82 pages • 2 hours read
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.
Short Answer
1. What are pros (positive attributes) and cons (negative attributes) of capitalism? Which of these pros and cons have you or your family experienced under American capitalism?
Teaching Suggestion: First create a definition of capitalism with students and discuss that in Walden Thoreau argued against capitalism, particularly the financial and spiritual costs of capitalism. Create a t-chart as students discuss pros and cons of capitalism.
2. Do you think Americans have become “wage slaves” under capitalism? Why or why not?
Teaching Suggestion: Discuss with students that Walden was written during a period of widespread industrialization in the northeastern United States, particularly in Massachusetts where Thoreau lived. Many people, including Thoreau, were concerned about the changes that were occurring during the transition from an agricultural society to an industrial society, the latter of which created a new socioeconomic class of wage earners.
Featured Collections